I Can Give You Some Advice
by alifestylechoice
Summary: “I’m sure they’ll figure out you’re not cut out to be a ninja within the next year or so, if they’re able to pry you away from your three boyfriends, of course.” Sakura, Kakashi, Rin.


**Title:** I Can Give You Some Advice

**Author:** alifestylechoice   
**Fandom:** Naruto (Sakura, Kakashi, Rin)  
**Rating:** G (Fluffy flufferson)  
**Words:** 969  
**Summary:** "I'm sure they'll figure out you're not cut out to be a ninja within the next year or so, if they're able to pry you away from your three boyfriends, of course."

_A/N: A bit of fic for Eldr. Happy Birthday, MP! :3 :3 :3_

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"Tch. You don't know anything."

Kakashi kicked the grass that was already deteriorating against the large tree that loomed over him. He quickly reevaluated his immaturity and kept himself in check, foot returning to the ground to stand flat. Through the cloud of dust that his offending foot created, he could see her with her hand over her mouth.

He thought it was because of the dirt in the air, but his ears detected those girlish giggles that he hated. Rin's laugh was nothing like that. It was soft, and light, and elegant and—

"Hahahahaha!!!" the little girl bellowed, boisterous laughter bubbling up from her tiny pot belly. "You're mad!" Her two pink pigtails appeared to sprout from her head, and bobbled animatedly when she talked. And laughed. At him.

"I don't think a _seven_ year old would know much about anything," he repeated, looking out towards the activity in town. At the edge of the training grounds, raised above the city, he looked down on the midday shoppers, proprietors, and families that went about their daily business without a thought that their safety depended upon the shinobi that trained sometimes fourteen, sixteen hours a day—

"Just because you're wrong doesn't mean that I don't know anything," Sakura said, smiling. Kakashi imagined her expression must have looked quite adorable to the average person, but he had never had a soft spot for children or anything like that, and most definitely not for little girls who decided to give a very adult grown-up man, such as himself, dating advice.

"You know, I've had three boyfriends already," the girl said, puffing her chubby cheeks in his general direction, chin held a little too high.

He narrowed his eyes. "You know, when an interrogation takes place up at the Tower, they punish liars by cutting out their tongues."

Sakura's expression immediately changed, curling her lips into her mouth and turning away from him dramatically. "Ew, why did you tell me that? That's gross! And, I didn't lie! You're just mad that you're _old_ and you've never had a girlfriend!"

He scoffed and leaned up against the tree, which was apparently his only true companion at the moment. "I'm not like you. You're one of them." He pointed to the marketplace below. "You're going to grow up in a nice house with your nice parents and go to a nice school and live a nice, normal life. I'm a shinobi—when I was your age, I was already chuunin."

She stood on her tiptoes and addressed him head-on. "_I_ am going to the academy! I'm going to be a ninja, too!"

"You're not a ninja—ninja train constantly. They're sent out on missions as soon as they're done with another, before they have time to sleep in their own beds for a night. They don't have time for three boyfriends. Unless, of course, they are unfit for the occupation."

"I'm not unfit for the operation!" Sakura insisted.

He continued, scratching the back of his head lazily. "I'm sure they'll figure out you're not cut out to be a ninja within the next year or so, if they're able to pry you away from your three boyfriends, of course."

"Stop being so mean! I'm not the one that asked me for help!"

He sighed, and rubbed his temple. "I didn't ask you for help. You were _eavesdropping_ on me."

She shifted her weight, cocking her hip to the side and crossing her arms. "You were talking to a tree."

"Yes. And the best thing about this tree is that it doesn't talk back."

She marched up to him, face twisted into some form of anger, pigtails bobbling away. She inhaled deeply—he was exhausting her entirely.

"Does she hang out with you all the time?"

He was not impressed. "We're_ friends_. Of course we hang out—er—we're together all the time."

"When she talks to you, does she look you in the eyes?"

"Yes. So do normal people who talk to one another."

"When she says good-bye and walks away, does she look back at you?"

"What are you talking about?"

She grasped the front of his shirt—the highest she could reach—and shook him once. She was ridiculously strong for a seven year old, and it took him by surprise. "When she _says_ good-bye and _walks away_, does she _look back_ at you?"

In his shock, he found himself searching his memory, when they returned home from missions, together, when he walked her back to her house, when they parted after submitting their reports to the Tower. He remembered.

"Yes. She does."

Sakura smiled and released him (his back slamming into the tree). "Then, she likes you. Trust me."

He righted himself, and quickly gained his composure. "Whatever."

Sakura put her hands in her pockets, teetering back and forth. "A good kunoichi only walks away from her target when she wants the target to pursue them."

He raised an eyebrow. "Those are big words for a little kid."

She raised an eyebrow back at him. "I'm not stupid. How do you think I got three boyfriends?" She turned her nose and sashayed away.

Kakashi blinked and turned away, considering the value of her advice. He was confused for a number of reasons. She had used the word "kunoichi"—but he had never said anything to suggest that he was interested in anything other than an average civilian woman. He also knew that the same girl who was spitting lies about multiple boyfriends was capable of coming up with words like that on her own. She had to learn it from somewhere, from someone else.

As Sakura walked away, she turned, looking back over her shoulder. She sniffled, then ran away into the underbrush, leaving him to his thoughts.

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_Thank you for reading--please review if you have the time!_


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